


sport and sounds

by orphan_account



Category: High School Musical
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-01-26
Updated: 2008-01-26
Packaged: 2017-10-11 16:20:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/114294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan forgets his hats <i>everywhere</i>. Chad takes a while to notice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sport and sounds

It all started when someone from the basketball team found one of Ryan's hats in the stands, blue-white stripes and looking so completely innocent and out of place, it was almost adorable. The team captain - namely Troy - ended up with it in his hands, along with a 'Deal with it, boss' and a quick smirk, because everyone knew what Ryan was like about his hats. Posessive was an understatement.

Of course, Chad laughed at Troy all the way home from practice.

"What was he doing in the spectator stands, anyway?" Troy mumbled, displeased. He would have been liking Ryan just fine if Ryan wasn't always all over Gabriella. If Troy wasn't allowed to touch and hug her every second of the day, so wasn't gay-boy. It would figure if in the end Ryan was only playing the twink to be able to get all the hot girls.

"I have no idea," Chad admitted. "He's not into basketball," then added, "plays a wild game of baseball though."

Troy grinned. "Liked that, did you?"

Chad punched his shoulder. "Oh, shut up."

 

~*~

 

Troy cornered Ryan before class the next day at his locker. He felt bad about enjoying the second of intimidated fear in Ryan's eyes before the other boy realized it was just Troy who'd slapped the locker-door shut before his face.

"Oh," Ryan breathed out. "It's you."

"Yep." Troy tried a smile. "You missing something?"

Two perfectly arched eyebrows rose at that. "I don't know. Which game are we playing?"

That was when Gabriella appeared behind Troy, touching his upper arm. "What's going on, boys?" she smiled brightly. "Flirting, so early in the morning?" She gave Ryan a tight hug and linked arms with him. "Stop trying to seduce my boyfriend, fiend."

Ryan waved his hand. "Not my type. You can keep him." Then he grinned. "You, milady, on the other hand ..."

Troy cleared his throat and pulled the hat out of his bag. "One of the guys found it in the stands. That yours?"

Ryan's eyes widened. "Hey, I was looking for that! It's one of my favourites!"

"It is?" Gabriella frowned. "I've never seen it before."

"Yes, well. I've worn it once. But it looks fabulous on me, so it's one of my favourites." Ryan grinned. He pulled his canary-yellow one off his head and put the other on. "Good, right?"

"Brilliant," Troy coughed.

"Oh, hey, that's the hat we found, right?" Chad came up behind Troy, slapping him over the head while his eyes took in Ryan's look. "Didn't see you in the stands, man."

"Oh, I was there," Ryan grinned. "I just got bored very quickly."

"How did you manage to lose it anyway?"

That made Ryan hesitate. Then his grin was back. "I didn't. Some kids took it from me and I didn't want to start running after them, so I just shrugged it off as a loss." He gave Troy a little bow. "Thanks for giving it back."

Troy felt himself redden uncomfortably. "Yeah, yeah, no problem, we should be getting to class." He hurried on, Gabriella walking beside him, looking puzzled.

"Huh," Ryan said.

Chad laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"He really doesn't like me, does he," Ryan sighed.

"He likes you fine," Chad said. "He's just a bit of a jealous person, if you know what I mean."

Ryan shouldered his backpack, taking off the hat and stuffing it in his locker before he straightened his hair and put on the yellow cap. "Right," he said. He thought for a second, then shrugged. "Well, that's his problem, not mine."

"And right so," Chad grinned.

Ryan squinted up at him. "So, what about you?"

"Oh, I don't know." Chad put his arm around Ryan's shoulders and led him down the hallway towards their classroom. "As long as you don't try to make me dance again, we're good."

 

~*~

 

Sharpay looked ready to keel over with shock when he told her. "You what?" she shrieked.

"Keep your voice down, for heaven's sake," Ryan hissed, grabbing her wrist and pulling her into the men's room.

"WHAT are we doing in here, ew, ew, ew, ew," Sharpay shivered with distaste. "This place must be swarming with germs. Boy-germs. Ugh. Please, Ryan, let me go -"

"Oh, stop it." Ryan rolled his eyes, glad no one was inside, at least, overhearing this. "If you knew how to keep quiet, we wouldn't need to be in here."

"If you had any kind of taste at all, you'd never have even thought - ugh. Ryan. You are officially no longer my twin brother. Me and you? Did not share a womb. I'm rewriting history."

"He's not so bad!" Ryan said coolly.

"He's got monster hair! And the -" she made a flourished motion with her hand, "- the whole. Manly thing going on. What happened to that pretty, round-cheeked hottie you brought home from the theater last time we went? I liked him!"

"... he wrote poems about your hair. I think that answers the question who he was after."

"But you made such a cute couple on the pictures!"

"Sharpay -"

"All right, all right. But... Chad? Really? He's... sporty and sweaty and -"

Ryan had a strangely stupid grin on his face.

Sharpay hit him over the head with her handbag. "I hate you sometimes."

The door opened and a boy walked in; he stared, stopped in mid-step, then asked slowly, "This is the men's room! What are you doing in here?"

Sharpay gave him a condescending look. "Having a tea party," she snarked and stalked out, stilettos clicking loudly against the ground.

 

~*~

 

Sharpay didn't think long about why exactly Ryan had told her - they were twins. They shared everything. Well, almost everything. He wasn't getting anywhere near her mascara, or else.

No, instead of thinking about it, she decided to act. After all, her brother had just recently made a musical performance happen for her, pulled a few strings (he was definitely good at pulling strings - but then, so was she: it had to be genetic). So making one boy put out for Ryan - something she could accomplish with the snap of her finger, really - was going to be a nice way to show her appreciation for everything he'd done for her.

Finding Chad wasn't very hard to do - she followed the loudest voice and the biggest flock of students into the cafeteria. There he sat, with his arm around a dark-skinned girl, chatting amiably with Troy, the loser. Gabriella was hanging onto Troy's hand, giggling with Kelsi. Sharpay took a deep breath - ew, school cafeteria food - and tip-toed up to their table. All chatter abruptly stopped when they noticed her.

Sharpay gave them a dangerous smile. Now there was an audience that appreciated big entrances. "You!" she finally barked at Chad.

Chad's eyes grew huge and he looked almost scared. "What?"

"Up, up," she commanded, pointing her newly-manicured finger at him. "With me." When he didn't move, she snapped, "NOW!"

That got him up off his seat in a second. She gave the others around the table a quick nod and tottered off towards the exit, absolutely sure he would follow. Of course, he did.

 

~*~

 

They found an empty classroom quickly enough. Sharpay stopped by the big desk inside and leaned against it, waiting for Chad to close the door.

"What is it?" Chad asked. He seemed annoyed at himself that he'd done what she'd asked without a single question.

Sharpay smiled. Well, that boded well, should Ryan happen to get this one on his team. Finally Ryan would have someone at his beck and order, too. And a Wildcat basketball player, at that. "You'll do just fine," she nodded thoughtfully. "For a little while, at least."

"Wait, what?" Chad frowned.

"I need you to go out with my brother."

"Ryan?" There was a pause. "Why didn't he ask me himself if he wanted to go out with us, sure we can take him along -"

"No." Sharpay looked at him like a complete idiot. "I need you to go out with Ryan. On a date."

"Date, wait, what?" Chad blinked. "I'm not gay!"

Sharpay closed the space between them with four little steps and tipped his forehead. "Oh honey, you don't need to be gay. It's Ryan." She patted his cheek. "He's managed to make every boy fancy his ass yet."

"Well, I don't want to."

"Oh, you will," Sharpay smiled dangerously. "Believe me, you will. You really don't want to know the folder of blackmail material I have on you. We wouldn't want any of that to go public, would we."

Chad snorted. "I don't believe you."

Sharpay made a motion with her hand, top of the head to her waist in one smooth line. "Do I look like I care?"

"Why would you want me to do that, anyway," Chad asked suspiciously. "If I remember right, I'm not your favourite person in the world."

"No. You're most definitely not. But, Ryan apparently wants you -" she gave the front of his jeans a pointed look, "- or part of you, at least. And Ryan, just like me by the way, always gets what he wants."

"Except when he doesn't," Chad said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Sharpay raised her eyebrows.

 

~*~

 

"So."

Ryan jumped, book falling to the ground with a sickening thud. It being a book, of course, it had opened during the fall and some of the pages were squashed. "Shit," he muttered. "Damn, Chad, it's a library book."

"So buy the whole library," Chad rolled his eyes.

"It's not about that. It's about taking care of your things. Keeping them pretty!"

"Right."

Ryan sighed, picked it up and rose from his crouch, coming face-to-face with him. "What is it?"

Chad tipped Ryan's hat - orange-red combo that matched his black-and-white outfit to the dot. "I was wondering whether you'd like to see a movie tonight," Chad proposed.

Ryan opened his mouth, closed it, opened it, and then said, "The little bitch!"

Not quite what Chad had expected.

 

~*~

 

"Sharpay!" Ryan yelled when he got home.

Sharpay lounged by the stairs, looking very pleased with herself. "Ryan, how early you are home. How was your date?"

"There was no date!" Ryan followed her as she passed through the hallway and out towards the pool. "Sharpay!"

"What?" She blinked. "But he seemed so eager in the end!"

"... he did?"

"Oh yes." White teeth flashed. "You were right. He's charming. For a one-night kinda boy."

"Sharpay!"

"What? He promised to take you out on a date - that has to count for something, right? And there is no one who'll say no to you once you got them in the Route Parisienne, gorging on a chocolate fountain! I thought we had all the bases covered where that was concerned?"

"You blackmailed him into going on a date with me! With nothing!"

"Well... yes?" Sharpay tipped against her chin. "And it was brilliantly executed too. We really should play Poker sometime."

Ryan sighed and slapped his forehead multiple times.

 

~*~

 

"Look, there's Ryan again," Troy said, frowning. "What is he doing here? He doesn't even like basketball!"

"That's my line," Chad commented idly. He glanced up at Ryan, who was watching some of the guys doing warm-up exercises rather concentrated. "You don't think he's thinking about joining the team?"

Troy stared, horrified. "No!"

"Oh, good. It's the only explanation I have right now." Beside the rather obvious one, Chad winced inwardly. Sharpay had to have something to do with this. He just knew it.

Of course, after the game, there was another cap found. Troy rolled his eyes. "He should pay better attention to his things," he complained, looking at the cap dejectedly.

Chad bit his lip, then said, "I'll give it back to him. I gotta talk to him anyway."

Troy's expression spoke plenty of his thoughts. But he didn't comment, just handed it over and snorted. "I don't want to know."

"You really, really don't, dude."

 

~*~

 

"So that's the second time in... what? Two weeks?"

Ryan grabbed for the cap, but Chad held it out of his range, shaking his head. "You can hop, but you're not getting it back until I get some answers."

"Oh, are you?" Ryan narrowed his eyes, and then, Chad suddenly had a good 120 pounds of body sitting atop of him.

"Whoa," he coughed, eyes wide.

Ryan plucked the cap from his fingers, hopped up, turned around and walked down the hallway, leaving Chad sitting on the floor, trying to figure out which split-second Ryan had used to topple him to the ground. It seemed there were hidden depths in the boy yet. Who'd have thought.

 

~*~

 

"I can... admire a guy. Right?"

"Certainly you can," Ryan said, tying his shoes. He didn't look up. They were on their way to PE lesson, which, apparently, Ryan really didn't like, a thing Chad couldn't understand. Then he remembered that most jocks tended to make Ryan's life a bit miserable by picking on him and calling him up last for the teams and felt slightly ashamed of himself.

"Why don't you ever show that you're an athlete in class?" Chad nudged, waiting for him to get up and righten his shirt.

Ryan looked up, stared. "Why should I? It's not like that's going to change the fact that I like to dress pretty and wear matching hats. Or any of the other things, either. I can do sports just fine... I just don't like most of them as much as I like, say, dancing or performing."

"Right." The other students slowly trickled into the locker rooms to change into their PE clothes. "Anyway," Chad finally said. "Since when do you like basketball?"

Ryan tipped his hat and said, "I don't like basketball," and left Chad standing in the midst of his classmates.

 

~*~

 

"He doesn't like basketball," Chad blurted in the middle of a game of monopoly with Troy, Gabriella and Taylor.

Troy fell back in a groan. Gabriella and Taylor exchanged a look. "What?" Gabriella finally snorted.

Chad felt his face heat up. "I've been thinking about it all day. I don't get it."

"What." Gabriella repeated patiently.

"I had a talk with Ryan before PE. And we talked and then I asked him why he was coming to watch the games - and whether he liked basketball."

"And he said no." Gabriella started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Chad glared at her, then at Taylor, who joined in a second later. Troy seemed perplexed. Had to be a girl thing, then. "What is it?" he asked again. "Why are they acting so strange?" he addressed Troy.

"I have no idea," Troy shrugged.

"Oh, boys," Taylor rolled her eyes. Then she sobered up. "Say, Chad..."

"What?"

"Do you like that Ryan comes to watch? Do you want him to keep coming?"

Gabriella started giggling again. Chad looked at her uncertainly, then glanced back at Taylor. "I don't... know? I don't care, I think?" He could feel himself grow very uncomfortable.

"Right."

"Riiight," Gabriella added.

"Obviously, more inclusion needs to happen," Taylor decided.

"What? How? Huh?"

"And less subtlety. Obviously, Ryan is making his point too delicately," Gabriella added thoughtfully. "We'll have to think of something good."

"I hate to say, but Sharpay might be of some help here -"

"No!" Chad yelped. "No, don't. Not her. She's..."

"Scary," Troy suggested helpfully.

"A little."

"Oh, don't be silly," Gabriella smiled. "She's perfectly lovely once you get to know her, I'm sure. And she loves Ryan."

"Fabulous," Troy muttered under his breath.

Chad grinned.

 

~*~

 

Sharpay was very, very surprised to see Gabriella and Taylor hanging around near her locker the next morning. "What is this?" she demanded to know, pushing up her sunglasses to see properly. "Girls?" she waved them away. "I need more space."

"Hi, Sharpay," Gabriella greeted her. "There's something we wanted to talk to you about."

"Is there?" Sharpay took out a little book and flipped it open. "Hm... how's Friday looking for you? Three thirty? No?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "It's about Ryan."

That caught Sharpay's attention and she let her arms sink back to her sides. "Is he all right?"

"He's fine. We - well. Taylor and me, we think he's..." Gabriella leaned a little closer and grinned. "Is he after Chad?"

"Wha- how did you - oh, Ryan, damn you for being so obvious!"

"Not obvious enough, apparently," Taylor smirked.

"Basket-boy still not getting it?" Sharpay shook her head and pressed her lips together. "And I tried so hard. He's such a thick-headed idiot."

"Oh, he's fine!" Tayor protested.

"So you'd say," Sharpay smiled sharply.

"What is that supposed to mean -?"

"You know?" Gabriella interrupted Taylor, putting a calming hand on her shoulder. "That Ryan's in love with Chad?"

"What?" Sharpay's head snapped up, suddenly complete focus on Gabriella. "He isn't!"

"He's been going to all of Chad's basketball matches!"

"He has not!"

"He left his caps there. Twice."

Sharpay gasped. Her cheeks reddened in obvious excitation, and then, a very loud, very high-pitched scream of "RYAN!" sounded through the school, making various glasses break.

 

~*~

 

"Ryan Evans," Sharpay shrieked at him, having pulled him into the girls' bathroom this time. "How could you? And then to let me believe - you are an Evans, Ryan, where is your pride, your honour! In love! I cannot!"

"Oh, stop being so dramatic and quoting whatever romance novelist you're enjoying right now," Ryan rolled his eyes. "It's merely a little crush, okay. I vehemently protest the love thing!"

"Gabriella thinks differently!" Sharpay sniffed. "And for once, I'm inclined to believe her."

"What? Why?"

"You would rather kick someone in the balls than allow them to take your hat off you!" Sharpay pointed out, eyes narrowed. "And I know how well you're able to kick ass, because I was there the first time, remember? So don't try that routine on me, Mister. I'm your sister! It won't work!" She was pointing at him with her finger.

"So it's part of a plan to make him come and give it back to me." Ryan raised his hands. "That doesn't mean anything."

"Hah!" Sharpay stabbed him in the chest. "You're protesting too much. That's proof enough!"

"You're crazy."

"And you're in love. With the basket-monkey! Shame on you! Shame! I shall never forgive you!" Sharpay glared and stormed out, leaving Ryan alone, standing before the huge mirror in the girls' bathroom.

Ryan turned towards it and ran his fingers through his hair. "Why do the girls always get the bigger mirrors?" he wondered.

 

~*~

 

"Diagrams! Maps! Schedules!" Sharpay proclaimed. "All has to be in perfect order!"

Taylor rolled her eyes. "I'm all for getting them both drunk and locking them in a small room together."

Gabriella snorted. "That might actually work."

"Except Ryan does not drink," Sharpay announced sharply, and, under her breath, "the little pussy."

"We could just... have them share a romantic midnight picnic somewhere under the stars where they'd then kiss... no?" Gabriella smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

Sharpay snipped her fingers a few times impatiently, yelling, "Girls!" and two girls came running, carrying a white-board and a third one with a marker. Sharpay snatched it, waved them away. Then she turned to Taylor and Gabriella again. "We have the following mission parameters: we need Ryan," she drew a little stick figure with a big hat, "and Chad," a stick figure with a basketball and silly hair, "to get together." They were conveniently sitting on each other.

"I second that," Gabriella snickered.

"Our problem is," Sharpay continued, giving her a quietening glare, and drew the hairy figure again, on the left side, "Chad being completely and utterly thick." She drew a bubble over his head with a big question mark.

"What about Ryan?" Taylor asked.

"What about Ryan," Sharpay said impatiently.

"He knows?"

"He planned," Sharpay snorted, like it was obvious. "But his plan takes too long. And also, doesn't factor in that Chad is completely clueless." She drew a straight line from Chad-the-question-mark to Chad-and-Ryan-sitting-on-each-other. "The plan needs to solve for us how to get from this state," she tapped the board-Chad, "to this state."

"Well." Gabriella frowned. "That was... enlightening."

Sharpay brightened. "Wasn't it? I love diagrams! They're so... symmetrical. And easy."

Taylor cleared her throat. "So our objective is to make Chad realize he's in love with Ryan back."

"Easy," Sharpay smiled, pulling her shoulders up and let them sink down again. "Right?"

Taylor and Gabriella exchanged a glance.

 

~*~

 

The party was, in the end, a bit bigger than they'd planned. There were a lot of team members running around like crazy, drinking punch, half the school seemed to be there, at closer inspection.

"This was Sharpay's idea?" Ryan asked, glancing around, clearly shocked.

"Oh, yes," Gabriella patted his arm. "She was enthuasiastic about bonding with her schoolmates. It has something of an 'character-building exercise' were her exact words, I think."

"Doesn't sound like Sharpay at all."

"Well. It might have been something she read somewhere," Gabriella admitted.

"And what is the real reason, then?"

"So, the punch?" Gabriella grinned. "Is kind of... spiked. A little. With alcohol."

"And I thought that was cryptonite," Ryan rolled his eyes.

"You noticed?"

"Me and everyone else."

"... but they're drinking it like it's water!"

Ryan smiled uncomfortably. "Exactly."

"Oh."

"Not the plan?"

"Eh..." Gabriella shrugged. "I guess as long as Chad drinks some."

"What? Why?" Ryan narrowed his eyes.

"Because the schedule -"

"- Sharpay does love her schedules -"

"- says that at 9pm, the punch is spiked, at around 10pm, things start to really heat up, ten-thirty, Taylor will take Chad upstairs to the room Sharpay has appointed for lay-downs and have a little talk with him about how gay's the new straight and ten-forty, I'll be going to have a strange attack of sleepiness, which will result in you leading me to the room Taylor and Chad are in, which will leave me in Taylor's capable hands and give you plenty opportunity to jump-start Chad with a kiss."

"That... is the plan?"

"It's brilliant," Gabriella clapped her hands. "We all thought of it together! Sharpay isn't half bad when it comes to strategy!"

"..." Ryan blinked. "What if I don't want to?"

"Uh... wait." Gabriella checked her pockets until she lastly drew a piece of paper from the back of her jeans. "From Sharpay. Here."

Ryan took it and unfolded it. Read it. Smiled. Gabriella watched him suspiciously. Finally, he looked up back at her. "All right. What time is it?"

Gabriella squealed and jumped to grab his arm. Ryan half-groaned. Some day, this would get him in trouble with some bigger, more muscular guy who knew better martial arts than he did, and he would be over, he just knew it.

 

~*~

 

Ryan hadn't really planned to kiss Chad. Yeah, it had been in the plan, and he was very grateful for Sharpay's attempts to make him happy, but it was also a little bit... immoral, to use Chad in an uninhibited state of mind for his own purposes.

Oh, Sharpay would be so disappointed.

The thing was, Ryan liked Chad a bit too much to do that. It was tragic, but sometimes, he pondered if she hadn't been right about the fact that he was more-than-crushing. He'd gone to great lenghts to assure Chad's friendship. He'd dirtied his squeaky clean white ensemble on the baseball diamond, for heaven's sake! And the shirt had been completely new!

The thing was, they'd been standing outside the room Gabriella and Taylor were in, talking softly just loud enough to hear a murmur of voices through the wall, and the music playing downstairs, not quite reaching up to their floor, and Ryan had leaned against the wall at his back and sighed and Chad had flopped down beside him, smiling.

"You're really something," he'd said.

"Huh?"

"I just... you know. You're so full of surprises. You can do stuff, things you've never shown anyone at school! And I don't get why not. And you're nice. Like, really, the way you helped Gabriella and just - I always thought you were an arrogant prick."

"Shut up," Ryan had mumbled, embarrassed, because he was so obviously none of those things, and when Chad had opened his mouth, he'd leaned over and kissed him, as after plan.

The kiss was soft and deeper than Ryan'd planned it to be, and Chad's lips were warm and a little wet beneath his own from where Chad had licked over them a second ago. He touched his tongue to Chad's, feeling his stomach contract, a burning starting up just beneath his skin, making him flush.

They parted breathlessly, Chad panting a bit more maybe even than Ryan himself.

"I'm sorry," Ryan said, uncomfortable. "I shouldn't have done that."

"It's actually okay," Chad replied, thoughtful expression. "That was... different."

"Yeah." Ryan sighed. "I guess it would be."

"Are you, like, drunk?" Chad looked at him curiously.

"No, no. I don't - I don't drink, really. It makes people do stupid things."

"The punch was -"

"- spiked, I know." Ryan frowned. "How did you -?"

Chad snorted. "Taylor told me. Great girl. Though actually, someone overdid it. The stuff smells like a vodka cocktail more than fruit punch."

"So you're not drunk?" Ryan stared. "I thought - but you - you didn't drink it?"

"No. I hate punch anyway."

Ryan groaned and banged his head against the wall at his back. Then he realized something. "Wait, Taylor told you? Why?"

Chad shrugged. "When she started the whole gay talk, I told her she could save it. You know, Ryan, you're not the only one who knows himself a bit better than other people do. And also, I'm not completely stupid. I know who I like."

"And you - like me?" Ryan asked hesitantly.

"What's not to like?"

"Oh." Ryan felt himself blush, buried his hands in his jeans pockets. "Thanks."

"So now that we've established that neither of us is drunk and we're both okay with making out with people of the same sex - how about I kiss you again?" Chad was grinning like a loon.

"I -" Ryan considered mentioning what he'd been up to the past few weeks, considered owing up to being at least partially responsible for the girls' plan and getting the whole thing rolling in the first place, but then he realized that would only put him in a horrible position and it wasn't like anyone could do anything about it anymore either. So he simply lifted his chin, grinned and said, "Yeah. I'd like that."

Chad put his right hand to Ryan's cheek and pulled him close, caressing his face as their mouths merged, and Ryan thought that the rest, probably, might even work itself out without a schedule. And if not, Sharpay would probably help. Her plans had a way of ending up with everything perfectly in order.

~*~

~~ _written in January 2008_


End file.
